Tonight, for our 801st episode, we’ll read a Snoozecast original sleep story, inspired by the classic fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea”.

First published by H.C. Andersen in 1835, the tale features a princess who is tested to become wife to a lonely prince.

At under 400 words long, it is triflingly short. Yet though it be small, it has served as the inspiration for many culturally popular works. The story was adapted to the musical stage in 1959 as Once Upon a Mattress, with comedian Carol Burnett playing the play's heroine, Princess Winnifred the Woebegone. The musical was revived in 1997 with Sarah Jessica Parker in the role. The story has been adapted into three films as well a television production starring Liza Minelli.

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Tonight, we’ll read the second chapter to “Good Wives” written by Louisa May Alcott. This is also known as the second half of the “Little Women” novel. Originally, Alcott had it published as a second book but in later publishings the two were combined.

If you haven’t listened to the first part to the book, you can search in your podcast player for “Snoozecast Presents: Little Women”. You will find a standalone series available so that you can refresh your memory or start from the very beginning if you’d like.

Our last episode opens after three years have passed since the conclusion of “Little Women”. Meg is about to get married. The war has ended, and Mr. March and Mr. Brooke have returned home. In the meantime, Meg has learned more about keeping house, and Amy has taken over Jo’s job caring for Aunt March. Jo has continued to write stories for the newspaper, while Laurie has passed the years at college.

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Tonight, for our monthly Snoozecast+ Deluxe bonus episode, we’ll read an original story about a mysterious cosmic ray that has baffled scientists around the globe. Where did it come from? What exactly was it? In our story, the phenomenon turns out to carry good fortune to the people of earth.

Although the story begins and ends in science fiction, most of the science discussed including cosmic rays, interstellar distances and special relativity are not among other things. Cosmic Rays are high energy particles, usually protons, that originate from various sources within the Milky Way as well as from extragalactic sources . An international team of scientists use specialized equipment to detect, and study these rays which provide insight into the most energetic processes occurring in the universe. These processes include supernova explosions, active galactic nuclei and other astrophysical phenomena.

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Tonight, we’ll read the third part of a fairy tale called “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen. The story centers on the struggle between good and evil as experienced by Gerda and her friend, Kay. The first part originallyaired on January 4th, 2021.

This story is one of Andersen's longest and most highly acclaimed tales. It was also the inspiration for the Disney movie “Frozen.”

In the second part, we follow little Gerda on her journey to find her friend Kay. She is bewitched and talks with flowers, and then gets caught up with a family of robbers. A raven tries to help her and leads her to a castle where he thinks he has seen her Kay.

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Tonight, we’ll read our second-to-last selection in our “Woodcraft” series, published by George Washington Sears, under the pen name "Nessmuk."

Sears was a writer and adventurer who penned essays on hunting, fishing, and camping for popular journals and magazines.

This episode will feature the last chapter of the “Woodcraft” book.

Next month, for the final episode in the series, we will read selections of the author’s poetry, published as “Forest Runes”.

In this episode, the author discusses his preference for clinker-built canoes over other styles. A Clinker-built (also known as lapstrake) is a method of boat building in which the edges of hull planks overlap each other. Clinker-built ships were a trademark of Northern European navigation throughout the Middle Ages, particularly of the longships of the Viking raiders and traders.

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Tonight, to start off “Persuasion”, our latest addition to the Friday rotation of four ongoing stories, we shall read the opening to the book. Or rather, we shall “re-read” the opening, as we have once before read the opening to this novel, several years ago now.

This was the last novel fully completed by Jane Austen, along with being considered her most mature and refined writing. “Persuasion” was published in 1817.

The story concerns Anne Elliot, a twenty-seven year old Englishwoman, whose family moves to lower their expenses and reduce their debt by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife. The novel was well-received at it’s debut, but its greater fame came decades later, and continues to this day

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Tonight, we’ll read the second part of a fairy tale called “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen. The story centers on the struggle between good and evil as experienced by Gerda and her friend, Kay. The first part originally aired on January 4th, 2021.

The story is one of Andersen's longest and most highly acclaimed stories. It was also the inspiration for the Disney movie “Frozen.”

In the first part, we meet best friends, Gerda and Kay. We also learn of the wicked mirror that splinters into tiny pieces over the land. The shards sometimes land in unknowing people’s eyes or hearts, and cause them to be cold-hearted and mean-spirited. This happens to the little boy, Kay. Then he gets whisked away by the Snow Queen’s sled. Gerda goes in search of him, and meets a kindly witch.

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Tonight, we’ll read the second half to “The Adventure of the Priory School” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as part of 1903’s “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”. The first half aired last week.

In last week’s episode, Holmes is approached by Dr. Thorneycroft Huxtable, the headmaster of the prestigious Priory School. Huxtable seeks Holmes's help in locating the missing Lord Saltire, the young heir to the Duke of Holdernesse. Lord Saltire disappeared under mysterious circumstances from the school.

The Duke tells Holmes that he does not think that his estranged wife has anything to do with his son's disappearance, nor has there been a ransom demand.

Holmes and Dr. Watson go hunting on the moor for clues. They find a bicycle track, but it is not the German school master Heidegger's. Almost everything observable has been obliterated by cow tracks (of which there are many tracks). We will pick up as they continue their search.

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Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne.

In the last episode, harpooner Ned Land expresses his disappointment to Aronnax about their failed escape plan. Aronnax then fills him in about Nemo's treasure-filled “bank” of shipwrecks at the bottom of the sea. Although Land hopes for another chance, they realize that the Nautilus is departing. We will pick up where Nemo invites Aronnax alone to go with him on an underwater excursion.

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Tonight, we’ll read the first part out of three episodes to the fairy tale “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen. The other two parts will air in the next two weeks. All three episodes first aired in January of 2021. The story centers on the struggle between good and evil as experienced by Gerda and her friend, Kay. The story is one of Andersen's longest and most highly acclaimed stories. It was also the inspiration for the Disney movie “Frozen.”

— read by 'V' —

Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices